Happy New Year…3 weeks later. As I reflected over what to write, I reread my New Year 2020 post, and chuckled at pre-pandemic me who had no idea what 2020 had coming. Last year, I was only 2 weeks late with my New Year greetings, so I have some serious room for improvement. Looks like my one word of FOCUS didn’t go so well for me. I’m just going to blame 2020 and try again.
BUT I SUCCEEDED IN FRAMING THINGS! I can check that off my 2020 list of things I wanted to get done! The 2021 goal is to HANG THINGS!
Like everyone else, last year threw us into chaos, but I’m not going to bother going into it. What’s done is done, and we’re moving forward. It’s still not safe to go outside, but we’ll do what we can. I will say that there was a lot of awesome family fun time. Here are some of our 2020 faves:
Water coloring
Baking breads and all kinds of sweets
TV series
Voltron reboot (a rewatch for Mark and me, new to Sofs)
Trollhunters, 3 Below, and Wizards
Duck Tales reboot
The Dragon Prince
We Bare Bears
Haikyu!! (for Mark and me…also my latest obsession)
Video games
Nine Parchments
Overcooked 2 seasonal updates
Trine 1-3 (a replay for Mark and me, new to Sofs)
Trine 4 replay
Love in a Dangerous Space Time
Fall Guys
Beat Saber (this was a renewed love of the game we started the prior year)
Final Fantasy VIII remastered (for Mark and me - a replay that I never got around to beating when it first came out)
Final Fantasy VIX (for Mark and me - it’s been on my “to play” list for forever)
Badminton
Swimming - we were constantly in the pool during the summer
Reading - I totally hit my 20 book goal for 2020! Yes, there were a few graphic novels in there, but they still count! My reading goal for 2021 is 24 books. And yes, I plan to include graphic novels because Mark got me several volumes of the Haikyu!! manga. I am more than okay with this.
We missed hanging out with friends and especially with family, but being the introverts we are, we were quite content to be hanging out with each other all the time.
Where’s Your Book, Emily?
Yeah, I know…my second book should have been out by now. You’d think I’d have more time to write during the pandemic, but that was not true at all. I actually found that I had less time. The first draft was completed, so the time I spent on the book was extremely heavy editing. I focused (ooh…I did FOCUS last year!) on ensuring the story was tight, continued seamlessly from the first book, and set up the bridges for the third book. It’s been rough, but Mark helped me identify the parts of the story that needed work (in most cases, some major revisions). My 2020 has been rewrites, so my 2021 goal is to finalize. Aren is, as always, hanging in there.
One Word for 2021 and New Year Wishes
My word/theme for 2021 is CONNECT. I might elaborate on it in a different post because I’ve reflected on this quite a bit. My goals this year are centered around getting things done, and that includes my second book. I hope for continued good health (physical, mental, and emotional) during these crazy times. I hope that as a community, we all strive towards open minds and hearts, open communication, and peace—even in small increments. We’re all in this together. Maybe we’ll all get to go out again and see more of the world this year.